


Saying Goodbye

by A_Quiet_Place



Series: Harbringer [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Friendship, Solidarity, aftermath of S3, salute to friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25124743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Quiet_Place/pseuds/A_Quiet_Place
Summary: A snippet of time between Max and Steve as the last of the Party leave Hawkins.Part of a series
Series: Harbringer [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820008
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Saying Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing a Stranger things fic and I had this chapter that didn't really fit in smoothy with the others. So it's going as a little side snippet as part of the series.  
> Not my characters just my imagination.

**December 1990**

Hawkins, Indiana

”It's fucking freezing, Steve! Hurry up!” Max shivers. She's bundled up in a ridiculous amount of layers, and hopping from foot to foot outside the station.  
  
“Sorry, yeah.” Steve fumbles his way out of the door, juggling his coat and gloves.

“I'm off!” He yells back through the doorway to Callahan. He gets a half-hearted wave from the deputy as he makes his way out. They were just as surprised as anyone that Steve had joined the police academy in New York, but they still put in a good word for him.

Steve climbs into his pick-up, and Max clambers into the passenger seat beside him, immediately cranking the heaters up to max the moment the engine's on.

“I didn't miss this.” She grumbles and rubs her gloved fingers in front of the vents.

“What? All this sunshine? Cali hasn't got anything on Hawkins.” Steve grins at her and pulls out onto the road.

She rolls her eyes at him and tries to rub the warmth back into her legs. They drive for a while in companionable silence until they pull up in the Starcourt mall 2.0 parking lot. Steve kills the engine but keeps the heaters on.

“How's your mom?”

“Fine.” Max shrugs one shoulder.

Steve glances over at her, examining her tellingly blank expression.

“It's weird being back here. Even for the holidays. Bet she's happy to see you, though.” He tries for a goofy smile.

She shrugs again and glances at him before looking down at her gloves.

“I'm staying with Lucas at his folks place.”

Steve frowns a little and ignores the lurch in his stomach.

“Everything okay?” He asks.

Max doesn't respond at first, just sits there silently while she stares out at the soft flakes of snow as they fall on the hood of the pick-up. Steve catches her eyes glistening with tears and looks away hastily, pretending he hasn't noticed.

He reaches into the back seat, shoving the lid off a cooler – twisting his torso enough to grab two cans of beer out and tosses one to Max. They pop the tabs open and clink the tops of their cans together before taking a sip, both staring up into the soon-to-be new again mall.

“Neil was using Billy's urn as an ashtray.” She replies after a while, keeping her gaze steadfastly forward.

Steve chokes on beer, spluttering and coughing a bit before he wipes his face on his sleeve. He looks at her incredulously.

“What the fuck?” His disbelief turns into a sick anger that rolls around in his stomach.

“Yeah.” She takes a large gulp of beer and sinks down in the seat. “I stole it when I moved to Cali, sprinkled Billy's ashes all over the beach.”

Steve exhales sharply with relief and he mirrors her pose. The angers still there, though. He wants to punch Neil until he swallows his own teeth.

“That's good. Real good of you, Max. Billy would have liked that.” He says instead.

Max scoffs a little and shrugs, avoiding his gaze.

“Neil's an ass-hole. Billy didn't deserve that... Not after- after everything. He gave me hell for it, but, fuck him. _Fuck Neil_.”

“Yeah,” Steve agrees. “Fuck Neil.” It had taken her a few years but she had finally opened up about what went on behind closed doors in her household. The way Neil would punish Billy for shit with his fist. So yeah, _fuck Neil._

“I figured, after that, like, why come back any more. It just- It's too much you know?”

Steve grimaces slightly and nods.

“Will you come back – I mean. If none of us are here?” She turns her blue eyes on him and he feels a little exposed under the weight of her stare.

“To Hawkins?” He shrugs. “Nicole wants me to start having Christmas with her folks back in New York. And Honestly? If you shit-stains aren't around any more what's the point? My folks can start coming to me if they care enough.”

“But you're coming to the Byers party, right?”

“Of course.”

She sniffs a bit in acknowledgement and opens her door, kicking it out with her foot so she can pour a little of her beer onto the parking lot asphalt.

Steve smiles at her encouragingly and does the same.

Silence falls between them once again as they pull the doors shut and try to seal the warmth back in. Steve doesn't mind. Max doesn't need him to comfort her. He takes an extra swig of his drink for Hopper.

When she finally talks again it's with a focused frown. Her now shoulder length red hair twisting between her fingers.

“I... Hey. I got a job back in Cali at a mechanics shop. They said I could- I could work on the Camaro when it wasn't busy. Even let me park it out the back.”

Steve stares at her a moment then smiles wide.

“Hey! That's great! Look at you, all grown up.”

She scoffs a bit and whacks his arm lightly with the back of her hand.

“When you get the Camaro up and running, we should take a ride sometime.” He suggests casually.  
  
“Billy would hate that.”

“Yep.” Steve grins at her, all teeth.

She grins back and lets out a huff of a laugh.

“Okay, deal. But, I'm driving.” She says determinedly.

“Sure, kid.” Steve huffs a laugh - but he's trying desperately not to think about the last time he had been a passenger when she had been behind the wheel of Billy's car.


End file.
